It's clear that you are meeting their needs in your own area of business, and along the way you're making the odd sale and improving the bottom line, but should you be doing more?

The better your site and your newsletter get, the more people will come on by, and you have an opportunity to add some value to your activity with the clients. If they want something from you, it's likely that they will have other needs. Many traders who are using the net know that your client list is worth something, and they're prepared to pay to get some use from it. We would never recommend selling your database. That's where all the spam comes from and we hate it. We will not contribute to it and we don't want you guys to either. Your newsletter or your site are different though. People are coming there willingly, or they've subscribed deliberately to get something from you... Many other business people want them to convert that trust in you to a willingness to support their product. Using your credibility to get them started is the basis of something called AFFILIATE MARKETING.

Merchants running affiliate programs ask webmasters or newsletter editors to carry advertisements for them. They pay for any sales that come from someone referred by you. Some sites have advertisements all over them and there is a chance that they're making money from that component of the site. Remember though, the real value of your site is for people to come there to learn about you and your product or service. Maybe they will continue to learn from you for some time, but you want them to occasionally use you as a supplier or consultant. Turning up to the site and finding nothing but horrible ads for american product will reduce the usefulness of your site, and you'll eventually wither.

We recommend affiliate marketing opportunities that are going to, say, improve the newsworthiness or authority of your site, for instance if you run a fishing site and you carry an ad for the best rods there are, you're kind of helping the client. They'll be happy to see that ad, and it won't put them off, meanwhile if we get anything saying click here for XXX rated photos, we unsubscribe, and we often try to contact the hosting company and have them dumped.

South West e Commerce have started to experiment with affiliate marketing. We want to be sure you get advice based on sound experience, so we'd better give it a try. Meanwhile, some of you are doing things with your own sites. Anyone who is willing to promote our services is welcome to the payments we're making, in fact it's really good marketing for us because we only pay after it works, we want to pay out thousands! Just like us, you probably won't get wealthy, but it might help pay for your site costs. You can find out more about our Affiliate program here.

Contact us for more information on this topic.

Disclaimer: This page is designed to provide information only and is not a substitute for advice that is specific to your business. Before acting on any of the information above it is important you seek further advice from a professional who has taken into consideration the nature and circumstances of your business.

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